[NoHo Arts District, CA] – The world premiere of Talisa Friedman’s So Baby brings collegiate chaos to Hollywood Fringe Festival 2025!
The New York Times called 2024 “Peak College Admissions Insanity.” But what happens AFTER you’ve been accepted?
So Baby is a sharp and hilarious new comedy exploring growing up and our obsession with higher education. When a boy-crazy nerd, a power-hungry activist, and a spoiled Russian oligarch’s daughter are assigned to be roommates, their clashing visions for college quickly lead to big drama in their tiny dorm.
The So Baby Team
A world premiere by Talisa Friedman, winner of the National Jewish Playwriting Competition and member of the Road Theatre’s Under Construction playwriting cohort. www.talisafriedman.com
Co-directed by Josie Andrews and Sierra Nutkevitch – two badass female filmmakers who are bringing their visual sensibility to the Fringe space.
The Cast of So Baby
Starring three wildly talented young actresses all making their LA theater debuts: Emily Hope Turner, Ciara Cain, and Diana Malota.
Get to Jnow the Team
CIARA CAIN (Jordyn) is an actress and screenwriter who moved to Los Angeles from South Carolina, two years after graduating from North Carolina A&T State University. There, she obtained her BFA in Professional Theatre. She has been in love with all forms of storytelling since she fell in love with reading in elementary school. The many movie nights with her grandparents fostered her love of movies. Her fun fact is that her mother would not let her watch Disney Channel or Nickelodeon during the school week. Instead, she’d come home from school, catching reruns of 90s sitcoms. That’s where her love of television comes from. All these factors made her the creative that she is. During college, she started her indie production company. Out of pure passion and the desire to see the visions God placed in her outside of her mind, she wrote and produced a 5-episode web series entitled Together, one pilot episode of her original TV show New Life, and a few short films.
DIANA MALOTA (Roksana) is a versatile actress and producer fluent in English, Albanian, Russian, and French. She stars as Deborah in What Did Deborah Do?, a critically acclaimed feature that premiered at the Mammoth Film Festival and just recently won Best Indie Drama at the Film Threat Award This Awards. Diana also served as a producer on the film, and it’s now available for streaming on Prime Video.
In addition to her acting work, Diana is dedicated to refining her craft, studying improv at The Groundlings and performing as a stand-up comedian at venues like Flappers Comedy Club, the Zephyr Theatre, and Fourth Wall Comedy.
EMILY HOPE TURNER (Miri) is a versatile performer with experience and training ranging from traditional Shakespearean theater to improv comedy. As a model, she stars in a Sephora campaign and is also known for her incredible voice and musical talent, playing multiple instruments. She has starred as Deb in Ordinary Days, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Fania Fenelon in Playing for Time, and more. Carpentry, ASL, Italian, and tap dance are just a few of the many skills she brings to the table while splitting her time between LA and NY.
TALISA FRIEDMAN (Playwright/producer) is a writer, actor, and producer. Her play WHO BY FIRE won the 2021 National Jewish Playwriting Competition, the Tel Aviv Jewish Playwriting Competition, and was one of three finalists for Monumental Theater’s New Work Series at the Kennedy Center. WHO BY FIRE had a workshop production at The Road Theatre in spring 2023, directed by four-time Emmy winner John Frank Levey. She was a finalist for the Geffen Writers Room, and is currently a member of the Road Theatre’s Under Construction playwriting cohort. As an actor, her theater credits include Alex Timbers’ THE LAST GOODBYE (Juliet) and HAMLET (Ophelia) at The Old Globe, CABARET (Sally Bowles) at Celebration, THE DODGERS (Patti) at the Hudson, plus Arena Stage, American Repertory Theatre, etc. She majored in English at Harvard, where she was awarded the Jonathan Levy Prize for Acting, the David McCord Prize for the Arts, and was a member of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals and the Signet Society of Arts & Letters. Talisa lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons.
New Jersey native JOSIE ANDREWS (Co-director) is a director, producer, and writer of stage and screen. She began her career performing professionally at the age of eight, touring with Broadway musicals and appearing in countless Off-Broadway/regional productions. A double Trojan, Josie graduated as the Salutatorian of USC’s class of 2018, continuing on at USC to pursue her M.F.A. and eventually assuming her current role as an adjunct professor of production. Josie’s narrative shorts have swept the globe with wins and nominations, including Oscar/BAFTA qualifying Nashville, LA Shorts, Santa Fe, Cordillera, Soho and many more. Her award-winning debut documentary tracking live theatre’s comeback amidst the pandemic titled WAITING IN THE WINGS can be seen on the PBS app. In the episodic space, Josie has directed several vertical drama apps top-earning shows, garnering millions of views worldwide. She’s slated to make her directorial feature debut with MIRIAM, one of five projects selected for this year’s Sundance/WIF finance intensive as well as the AWD Rising Director Fellowship.
SIERRA NUTKEVITCH (Co-director) is a writer/director from Montreal, Canada who creates exciting, thoughtful genre stories that blend humor and tension, unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Her specialty is complicated women, thrown into impossible situations and growing to contend with them. Sierra has several years of experience in development and international production. She graduated from Columbia University’s MFA Film Program, where she received several awards for her work, including the Dean’s Project Grant and Faculty Honours for her screenplay The Golem, which is also the Horror/Thriller Category winner in the Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Contest 2024. She is currently based in Los Angeles.
LAUREN SCHAFFEL (Producer) is an actor, writer, and producer. Television/film credits include The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Will and Grace, and the voice of Lucy in A Charlie Brown Valentine’s Day. She’s worked at numerous theaters, including the Road in LA, Geva in Rochester, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, Playwrights Horizons, and The Barrow Group. As a filmmaker, she wrote, produced, and starred in the short, musical comedy film Catalogue of Noses. Lauren is a co-founder of the production company LMC Productions and on the board of Jewface Theater Company.
JOHN BRUGAL (Producer) is an LA-based writer/director/producer from Long Island. His work vibrates at the nexus of dark, inventive, funny. He believes bold, original visions by singular creators are the future of the film and television industry and wants to support the next generation of creatives in their pursuit of making challenging cinema. His latest short film, MATINÉE, premiered online on Omeleto after a 2024 festival run. His writing has been published on McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and featured on stage at The Groundlings and UCB. He holds a BA in Economics from Harvard and a miniscule savings account from years in the creative trenches. Let’s go, Knicks.
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